White, a four-star quarterback recruit from Lancaster, Calif., made a verbal commitment to Princeton back in July despite having a bevy of scholarship offers from Power Five programs. He held firm in that commitment to the Ivy League program until Alabama came into the picture.

White received a scholarship offer from the Tide and took a visit to Tuscaloosa. His high school coach said White was “50-50” between sticking with the Tigers and signing with the national champions. Ultimately, White kept his word and will suit up for the Tigers even after getting the full-court press from Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

He met with Saban in his office, then the Tide’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, then one of the university’s deans. His host on the visit was the hero of this year’s national championship game, true freshman quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.

When White got back to California, he took a week to consider both schools. Then he called the Tide’s coaching staff. Thanks, but no thanks, he told them. He stuck with Princeton, and he hopes other high school recruits will consider Ivy League schools, too.

“I just wanted to stick with my heart. I wanted to lay out what’s important to me and what school offers me the best opportunity to achieve goals on an off field. Alabama is a great school and a great opportunity, but Princeton checks more boxes,” White told CBS Sports.

White is the third four-star recruit in the history of the Rivals.com recruiting rankings to choose an Ivy League school. In 2010, tight end Blake Barker picked Harvard over offers from Boston College, Florida, Penn State and Stanford. In 2008, Jonathan Meyers, a linebacker from Connecticut, also committed to Princeton over reported offers from the likes of Florida, Michigan and UCLA, among others.

Also of note, Chad Kanoff, a three-star recruit in 2013, enrolled at Princeton after initially signing to play for Vanderbilt. As a senior in 2017, Kanoff was the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, setting a single season conference record with 3,474 passing yards.

So the path is there for White, the younger brother of Arizona State quarterback Brady White, to have plenty of success. As a high school senior, White, who Rivals rates as the 13th-best pro-style QB in the country, threw for 3,931 yards and 54 touchdowns.